Page 8 of How to Trust a Hellhound
I felt like he was talking about more than just my wet face and his ruined t-shirt, and I relaxed a little in his arms.
He picked his head up for a moment, and I knew he wasn’t talking to me when he said, “Just Corbin and Aiden, I think.”
“And Fluffy,” I mumbled, because I wanted the big dog to come in, too.
He nodded his head against me. “Aye, Fluffy is a good emotional support animal.” He seemed to be teasing, but it wasn’t mean, and I didn’t think it was me who was being teased, either.
I heard them come in, and Aiden asked, “Do you want me to help you get your shirt on, Josh?”
I shook my head no. I didn’t want to move. I knew it was stupid and I was behaving like I couldn’t take care of myself, but Wilder was warm and he smelled good and I didn’t want to face anyone.
A hand reached between Wilder and me then, gently drawing my wrist out, which Wilder had been careful not to press against. I heard a caw, which sounded very close, but that didn’t make sense. Fingers softly touched my wrist, there was a spark of pain, and then Wilder’s smell got stronger—it almost smelled of sap and a match that had gone out.
Wilder rumbled against my ear again, only it was deeper, and it seemed to settle inside of my bones somehow. I heard another voice—maybe Corbin’s?—humming or whispering or something, and then everything faded as I let my mind float away.
Chapter 4
Wilder
Icould feel the moment that Josh let go and drifted into a sort of sleep. I had to resist the urge to pull him closer, but I didn’t want to cause him any pain, and his body was a mass of bruises and marks.
I hadn’t fully looked at all the marks, keeping my eyes on his when he opened the bathroom door. Even though I had plenty of practice schooling my expression (raising five boys will enable you to never look surprised or angry), I knew that I would do something foolish like growl if I examined the full extent of his injuries.
Josh didn’t need me growling or getting all gruff and angry on his behalf. He needed comfort.
Corbin had his eyes closed and was softly humming as he felt along Josh’s wrist. I wasn’t sure if it was my hellhound who had caused Josh to sleep or Corbin’s witch abilities, but I was thankful he could rest through this part.
“Not broken,” Corbin muttered. “Bones seem okay, but the ligaments aren’t. He’ll need to ice and rest it, and I’ll send a tincture over for him to use. Something he can use on the bruises, too.”
I continued to rumble softly, a deep hellhound reverberation I felt in my soul.
Corbin looked at me. “That’s helping him, too, whatever it is you’re doing. If you could do that, why didn’t you help us with all the broken bones we had as kids?”
I didn’t tell him that sometimes I didn’t even remember what I could do. Instead, I joked, “The broken bones taught you not to be so reckless. Plus, you healed them in a matter of minutes. You certainly didn’t need me. Even that time Jude jumped off a roof, he was good as new in a couple hours.”
Corbin snorted at that, remembering the incident. If Jude had done it in pursuit of a hellbound soul, I would have been more sympathetic. But he had just wanted to see how much damage he could deal with and how long it would take to heal. I think he’d also wanted to freak out the neighborhood kids who had been teasing Corbin about his crows (which I certainly would have handled if I’d known about).
Needless to say, we’d moved right after that. Raising hellhounds had never been dull, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Corbin finished humming and gently tucked Josh’s hand back between us, lightly resting it on my chest. He stood up and headed toward the door without another comment, probably to start preparing some medicinal stuff for Josh.
Aiden stepped forward. “Josh doesn’t know about… any of this hellhound stuff. Toby says stuff all the time, but he just thinks it’s Toby being Toby.”
I nodded my head, then I growled the question that had been plaguing me since I’d first smelled Josh’s pain and fear. “Who did this to him?”
Aiden didn’t look afraid, even though I knew my eyes were glowing flames. He looked resigned, which only made me more concerned.
“Hisboyfriend, I think. Only he isn’t a hellbound soul, is he?” Aiden asked, looking down at Fluffy.
Fluffy growled, but he reluctantly shook his head.
Fuck. That did make things more difficult.
Fucking free will.
Usually I loved that humans had the capability to redeem themselves. It was good to know that theycouldchange, that theycouldbecome better. It took a lot to make someone irreversibly hellbound. They were beyond saving if they were on our radar, and we were cleansing the Earth by disposing of them.
This time, though, I had the urge to kill someone whowasn’thellbound. Someone had done this to Josh, and I wasn’t supposed to punish that person? I was supposed to wait and see if he could redeem his rotten, fucked up soul?
